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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dangers and Strangers: Pathogenic threat, fear, and perceived vulnerability do not predict ethnocentric orientations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.</strong> -
<div>
Previous research has postulated effects of environmental stress on ingroup/outgroup thinking: The higher the pathogenic risk and the perceived vulnerability to it, the higher the ethnocentric orientation. Here, we examine ethnocentric orientations in Austria, Poland, Spain and Czech Republic in spring 2020, as the spread of SARS-CoV2 was on the rise and lockdown measures were introduced throughout Europe. Critically, these countries were affected differentially by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 mortality. 333 participants were asked to complete questionnaires assessing identification with all humanity, attachment style, and perceived vulnerability to disease at the beginning and end of the first European curfews. Additionally, they answered questions regarding their social interactions and personal consequences of the crisis. To investigate the relationship between these variables and ethnocentrism, we train two types of machine-learning models to predict ethnocentrism based on the complex interplay of interpersonal variables (psychological traits, interpersonal interactions) and environmental conditions (economic threats, local mortality, viral spread, lockdown measures). We find that identification with all humanity in relation to narrower ingroups and perceived infectability did not systematically change over the course of the first European lockdowns, whereas we observe a slight decrease in germ aversion. Importantly, none of our models could predict any inter-individual differences in identification with narrower versus wider groups based on environmental, psychological, social, and demographic variables. Our results indicate that environmental variables connected to pathogenic and economic threat, perceived vulnerability and other psychosocial variables, all do not contribute to predicting ethnocentric orientations. Cumulatively, our results do not support the hypothesis that higher pathogenic and environmental threat predicts identification with narrower ingroups. Our findings are discussed in the context of the open debate related to the influence of harsh environments on group psychology, and might inspire further research on this topic during this unprecedented global pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/wpcqb/" target="_blank">Dangers and Strangers: Pathogenic threat, fear, and perceived vulnerability do not predict ethnocentric orientations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Financial Distress and Suicidal Behaviour During COVID-19: Family Identification Attenuates the Negative Relationship Between Financial Distress And Mental Ill-Health</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized as a ‘perfect storm’ of risk factors for suicide, with increased social isolation exacerbating health and economic stressors. Recent research has evidenced the initial impact of the pandemic upon suicide, but has yet to fully explore how elevated financial threat and social isolation may together result in increased suicide ideation and behaviour, or to identify which social factors can promote resilience. We report the results from an online survey of 457 participants which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed a range of self-report measures of financial distress and mental health, as well as the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. We find substantial associations between financial distress and loneliness, stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal behaviour. Specifically, financial distress predicts suicidal thoughts/behaviour via increased stress and loneliness. Conversely, we find that identification with one’s family group attenuates these relationships. Our findings reaffirm the importance of social factors in attenuating the negative mental health outcomes of economic crises. In the current pandemic, loneliness and stress are likely to be particular vulnerabilities through which financial distress leads to suicidal thoughts/behaviour, while family identification is likely to be a fundamental resilience factor.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/yuqzm/" target="_blank">Financial Distress and Suicidal Behaviour During COVID-19: Family Identification Attenuates the Negative Relationship Between Financial Distress And Mental Ill-Health</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Detection of SARS-CoV-2 variant 501Y.V2 in Comoros Islands in January 2021</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Phylogenetic analysis of six SARS-CoV-2 genomes collected from the Comoros islands confirmed local circulation of the 501Y.V2 variant of concern during the countrys first major SARS-CoV-2 wave in January 2021. These findings demonstrate the importance of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance and have implications for ongoing COVID-19 control strategies on the islands.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21254321v1" target="_blank">Detection of SARS-CoV-2 variant 501Y.V2 in Comoros Islands in January 2021</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) and its impact on the prevalence of COVID-19 cases in Nabatieh region, Lebanon</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: An outbreak of an unknown respiratory illness caused by a novel corona-virus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China, in December 2019 and was referred to as coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Soon after, it was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. SARS-CoV-2 mainly infects the respiratory tract with different outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to se-vere critical illness leading to death. Different SARS-CoV-2 variants are emerging of which three have raised concerns worldwide due to their high transmissibility among populations. Objec-tive: To study the prevalence of COVID-19 in the region of Nabatieh - South Lebanon during the past year and assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their effect on the spread of infec-tion during times of lockdown. Methods: In our study, 37,474 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected and analyzed for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus in suspected patients attend-ing a tertiary health care center in South Lebanon during the period between March 16, 2020 and February 21, 2021. Results: Results demonstrated a variation in the prevalence rates ranging from less than 1% during full lockdown of the country to 8.4% upon easing lockdown re-strictions and reaching 27.5% after the holidays and 2021 New Year celebrations. Interestingly, a new variant(s) appeared starting January 2021 with a significant positive association between the prevalence of positive tests and the percentage of the variant(s). Conclusion: Our results indicate that the lockdown implemented by the Lebanese officials presented an effective intervention to contain COVID-19 spread. Our study also showed that lifting lockdown measures during the holidays, which allowed indoor crowded gatherings to occur, caused a surge in COVID-19 cases and rise in the mortality rates nationwide. More importantly, we confirmed the presence of a highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) circulating in the Lebanese community, at least since January 2021 onwards.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255005v1" target="_blank">The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) and its impact on the prevalence of COVID-19 cases in Nabatieh region, Lebanon</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Participating in vaccine research for COVID-19 in Senegal: trust and information</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This research aims to understand the level and determinants of people9s willingness to participate in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 in Senegal. We conducted a telephone survey among a marginal quota sample of 607 people over 18 years of age. Only 44.3% of the participants wanted to participate in a vaccine trial for COVID-19, with females intending to participate more than males. Participants who intended to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (OR = 6.48, 95% CI [4.12-10.4]) and who thought that being infected with the coronavirus would have a significant impact on their health (OR = 2.34, 95% CI [1.57, 3.51]) were more likely to agree to take part in the COVID-19 vaccine research. Confidence in the vaccine, health personnel, and government in the fight against the pandemic are key factors in intending to participate in vaccine research in Senegal.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21255079v1" target="_blank">Participating in vaccine research for COVID-19 in Senegal: trust and information</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>High coverage COVID-19 mRNA vaccination rapidly controls SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Long-Term Care Facilities</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) represent a major share of COVID-19 deaths worldwide. Information on vaccine effectiveness in these settings is essential to improve mitigation strategies, but evidence remains limited. To evaluate the early effect of the administration of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccines in LTCFs, we monitored subsequent SARS-CoV-2 documented infections and deaths in Catalonia, a region of Spain, and compared them to counterfactual model predictions from February 6th to March 28th, 2021, the subsequent time period after which 70% of residents were fully vaccinated. We calculated the reduction in SARS-CoV-2 documented infections and deaths as well as the detected county-level transmission. We estimated that once more than 70% of the LTCFs population were fully vaccinated, 74% (58%-81%, 90% CI) of COVID-19 deaths and 75% (36%-86%) of all documented infections were prevented. Further, detectable transmission was reduced up to 90% (76-93% 90%CI). Our findings provide evidence that high-coverage vaccination is the most effective intervention to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission and death. Widespread vaccination could be a feasible avenue to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255108v1" target="_blank">High coverage COVID-19 mRNA vaccination rapidly controls SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Long-Term Care Facilities</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>ddPCR Reveals SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Florida Wastewater</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wastewater was screened for the presence of functionally significant mutations in SARS-CoV-2 associated with emerging variants of concern (VOC) by ddPCR, and results accorded with sequencing of clinical samples from the same region. We propose that PCR-based screening of wastewater can provide a powerful tool for rapid and inexpensive screening of large population segments for VOC-associated mutations and can hone complementary sampling and sequencing of direct (human) test material to track emerging VOC.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255119v1" target="_blank">ddPCR Reveals SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Florida Wastewater</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Dialysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Importance: Patients receiving maintenance dialysis patients are at high risk for morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. The immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines is unknown in this vulnerable population where immune compromise is common. Objective: To determine seroresponse to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 utilizing mRNA vaccines among patients receiving maintenance dialysis. Design: Retrospective observational study. Setting: Dialysis Clinic, Inc. (DCI) outpatient dialysis clinics in the United States. Participants: All patients receiving maintenance dialysis that received two doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines with SARS-CoV-2 spike-antibody test results drawn at least 14 days after the second dose, as documented in the electronic health record through March 18, 2021. Exposure: Two doses of BNT162b2/Pfizer or of mRNA-1273/Moderna vaccines administered per manufacturer recommendations. Main Outcomes and Measures: Levels of immunoglobulin-G against the receptor binding domain of the S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen (seropositive: 2 or greater) using FDA-approved semi-quantitative chemiluminescent assay (ADVIA Centaur XP/XPT COV2G). The DCI clinical protocol for in-clinic administration included baseline and follow-up levels although initial administration of the vaccine occurred primarily elsewhere (e.g. long-term care facilities, hospitals, etc.) during the evaluation period. Hence, only post-vaccination antibody levels were reported. Results: Among 186 patients receiving maintenance dialysis from 32 clinics in 8 states tested an average of 23 days after receiving 2 vaccine doses, mean age was 68 years, with 47% women, 21% Black, 26% residents in long-term care facilities and 97% undergoing in-center hemodialysis. Overall seropositive rate was 165/186 (88.7%) with 70% at maximum titer and with no significant difference in seropositivity between BNT162b2/Pfizer (N=148) and mRNA-1273/Moderna (N=18) vaccines (88.1% vs. 94.4%, p=0.42). Among patients with COVID-19 history, seropositive rate was 38/38 (100%) with 97% at maximum titer. Conclusions and Relevance: Most patients receiving maintenance dialysis were seropositive after two doses of BNT162b2/Pfizer or mRNA-1273/Moderna vaccine. Early evidence suggests that vaccinated dialysis patients with prior COVID-19 develop robust antibody response. These results support an equitable and aggressive vaccination strategy for all eligible patients receiving maintenance dialysis, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, or disability, to prevent the extremely high morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 in this high risk population.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21254779v1" target="_blank">Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Dialysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 and mortality risk in patients with psychiatric disorders</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 has already caused the deaths of over 2.5 million people worldwide. Patients with certain medical conditions and severe psychiatric disorders are at increased risk of dying from it. However, such people have a reduced life expectancy anyway, raising the question whether COVID-19 incurs a specific risk for such patients for dying, over and above the risk of dying from other causes. We analysed the UK Biobank data of half a million middle-aged participants from the UK. From the start of 2020 up to 24th January 2021, 894 participants had died from COVID-19 and another 4,562 had died from other causes. We demonstrate that the risk of dying from COVID-19 among patients with mental health problems, especially those with dementia, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, is increased compared to the risk of dying from other causes. This increase among patients with severe psychiatric disorders cannot be explained solely by the higher rate of diabetes or cardiovascular disorders.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255046v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 and mortality risk in patients with psychiatric disorders</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>One Health Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Seropositivity among Pets in Households with Confirmed Human COVID-19 Cases - Utah and Wisconsin, 2020</strong> -
<div>
Background: Approximately 67% of U.S. households have pets. Limited data are available on SARS-CoV-2 in pets. We assessed SARS-CoV-2 infection in pet cohabitants as a sub-study of an ongoing COVID-19 household transmission investigation. Methods: Mammalian pets from households with &gt;=1 person with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were eligible for inclusion from April-May 2020. Demographic/exposure information, oropharyngeal, nasal, rectal, and fur swabs, feces, and blood were collected from enrolled pets and tested by rRT-PCR and virus neutralization assays. Findings: We enrolled 37 dogs and 19 cats from 34 of 41 eligible households. All oropharyngeal, nasal, and rectal swabs tested negative by rRT-PCR; one dog’s fur swabs (2%) tested positive by rRT-PCR at the first animal sampling. Among 47 pets with serological results from 30 households, eight (17%) pets (4 dogs, 4 cats) from 6 (20%) households had detectable SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. In households with a seropositive pet, the proportion of people with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 was greater (median 79%; range: 40-100%) compared to households with no seropositive pet (median 37%; range: 13-100%) (p=0.01). Thirty-three pets with serologic results had frequent daily contact (&gt;=1 hour) with the human index patient before the person’s COVID-19 diagnosis. Of these 33 pets, 14 (42%) had decreased contact with the human index patient after diagnosis and none (0%) were seropositive; of the 19 (58%) pets with continued contact, 4 (21%) were seropositive. Interpretations: Seropositive pets likely acquired infection from humans, which may occur more frequently than previously recognized. People with COVID-19 should restrict contact with animals.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.11.439379v1" target="_blank">One Health Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Seropositivity among Pets in Households with Confirmed Human COVID-19 Cases - Utah and Wisconsin, 2020</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The PUPPY Study - Protocol for a Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study Exploring Problems Coordinating and Accessing Primary Care for Attached and Unattached Patients Exacerbated During the COVID-19 Pandemic Year</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted primary care in Canada, with many walk-in clinics and family practices initially closing or being perceived as inaccessible, pharmacies remaining open with restrictions on patient interactions, rapid uptake of virtual care, and reduced referrals for lab tests, diagnostics, and specialist care. The PUPPY Study seeks to understand the impact of COVID-19 across the quadruple aim of primary care, with particular focus on the impacts on patients without attachment to a regular provider and those with chronic health conditions. Methods: The PUPPY study builds on an existing research program exploring patient access and attachment to primary care, pivoted to adapt to the emerging COVID-19 context. We will undertake a longitudinal mixed methods study to understand critical gaps in primary care access and coordination, comparing data pre- and post-pandemic in three Canadian provinces (Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia). Multiple data sources will be used including: a policy review; qualitative interviews with primary care policymakers, providers (i.e., family physicians, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists), and patients (N=120); and medication prescribing and healthcare billings. The findings will inform the strengthening of primary care during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Interpretation: This is the first study of its kind exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on primary care systems, with particular focus on the issues of patient9s attachment and access to primary care. Our multi-stakeholder, cross-jurisdictional team will collaborate to rapidly disseminate findings and share implications for future policy and practice.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.09.21255161v1" target="_blank">The PUPPY Study - Protocol for a Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study Exploring Problems Coordinating and Accessing Primary Care for Attached and Unattached Patients Exacerbated During the COVID-19 Pandemic Year</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A multiplexed high-throughput neutralization assay reveals a lack of activity against multiple variants after SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in the serum of an individual indicates prior infection or vaccination. However, it provides limited insight into the protective nature of this immune response. Neutralizing antibodies recognizing the viral Spike are far more revealing, yet their measurement traditionally requires virus- and cell-based systems that are costly, time-consuming, poorly flexible and potentially biohazardous. Here we present a cell-free quantitative neutralization assay based on the competitive inhibition of trimeric SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein binding to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) viral receptor. This high-throughput method matches the performance of the gold standard live virus infectious assay, as verified with a panel of 206 seropositive donors with varying degrees of infection severity and virus-specific IgG titers, achieving 96.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Furthermore, it allows for the parallel assessment of neutralizing activities against multiple SARS-CoV-2 Spike variants of concern (VOC), which is otherwise unpredictable even in individuals displaying robust neutralizing antibody responses. Profiling serum samples from 59 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, we found that although most had high activity against the 2019-nCoV Spike and to a lesser extent the B.1.1.7 variant, only 58% could efficiently neutralize a Spike derivative containing mutations present in the B.1.351 variant. In conclusion, we have developed an assay that has proven its clinical relevance in the large-scale evaluation of effective neutralizing antibody responses to VOC after natural infection and that can be applied to the characterization of vaccine-induced antibody responses and of the potency of human monoclonal antibodies.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255150v1" target="_blank">A multiplexed high-throughput neutralization assay reveals a lack of activity against multiple variants after SARS-CoV-2 infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Detection of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA in the human milk of COVID-19 vaccinated, lactating health care workers</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: In 2019, a deadly virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for COVID-19, emerged. In December 2020, two mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines were approved for use in the United States (US) which provide immunity to those receiving the vaccine. Maternally derived antibodies are a key element of infants9 immunity. Certain vaccines given to pregnant and lactating mothers provide immunity to infants through transmission across the placenta, umbilical cord (IgG) and human milk (IgA). Human milk produced by mothers with a history of COVID-19 infection contains SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG. Objective: To determine whether SARS-CoV-2 specific immunoglobulins are found in human milk after the COVID-19 vaccination, and to characterize the types of immunoglobulins present. Design, setting and participants: This is a prospective observational study conducted at Shands Hospital, University of Florida from December 2020 to March 2021. Twenty-two lactating healthcare workers who received the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna) made up the sample group. Plasma and human milk were collected at three-time points (pre-vaccination, post first vaccine dose , and post-second vaccine dose). SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA and IgG in human milk and in plasma were measured by ELISA. Maternal demographics was compiled. Exposures: Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna vaccination. Main outcome and measure: Levels of SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG in human milk and plasma. Results: We found significant secretion of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA and IgG in human milk and plasma after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Conclusions and relevance: Our results show that the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines induce SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA and IgG secretion in human milk. Further studies are needed to determine the duration of this immune response, its capacity to neutralize the COVID-19 virus, the transfer of passive immunity to breastfeeding infants, and the potential therapeutic use of human milk IgA to combat SARS-Cov-2 infections and COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.02.21254642v1" target="_blank">Detection of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA in the human milk of COVID-19 vaccinated, lactating health care workers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Using Short Messages to Encourage COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors</strong> -
<div>
Controlling the spread of COVID-19 requires persuading the mass public to change their behavior in significant ways. Many efforts to encourage behavior change, such as public service announcements, social media posts, and billboards, involve short, persuasive appeals, yet the effectiveness of these messages is unknown. Here, we test whether short messages increase intentions to comply with public health guidelines. Research was conducted in the United States from March-July 2020. To identify promising messages, we conducted two pretests (total N = 1,596) where participants rated the persuasiveness of 56 unique messages: 31 based on the persuasion and social influence literature and 25 from a pool of 600 crowdsourced messages by online respondents. The four top-rated messages emphasized 1) civic responsibility to reciprocate the sacrifices of health care workers, 2) caring for the elderly and vulnerable, 3) a specific, sympathetic victim, and 4) limited health care system capacity. We then conducted three well-powered, pre-registered experiments (total N = 3,719) testing whether these four top-rated messages and a standard public health message based on language from the CDC increased intentions to comply with public health guidelines. In Study 1, we find the four messages and the standard public health message significantly outperformed a null control. In Studies 2 and 3, we compared the effects of persuasive messages to the standard public health message, finding that none consistently out-performed the standard public health message. Short messages can increase intentions to comply with public health guidelines, but short messages featuring persuasive techniques from the social science literature did not substantially outperform standard public health messages.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/g93zw/" target="_blank">Using Short Messages to Encourage COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors</a>
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<li><strong>The effects of quality of evidence communication on perception of public health information about COVID-19: two randomised controlled trials</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The quality of evidence about the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical health interventions is often low, but little is known about the effects of communicating indications of evidence quality to the public. Methods: In two blinded, randomised, controlled, online experiments, US participants (total n=2140) were shown one of several versions of an infographic illustrating the effectiveness of eye protection in reducing COVID-19 transmission. Their trust in the information, understanding, feelings of effectiveness of eye protection, and the likelihood of them adopting it were measured. Findings: Compared to those given no quality cues, participants who were told the quality of the evidence on eye protection was “low”, rated the evidence less trustworthy (p=.001), and rated it as subjectively less effective (p=.020). The same effects emerged compared to those who were told the quality of the evidence was “high”, and in one of the two studies, those shown “low” quality of evidence said they were less likely to use eye protection (p=.005). Participants who were told the quality of the evidence was “high” showed no significant differences on these measures compared to those given no information about evidence quality. Interpretation: Without quality of evidence cues, participants responded to the evidence about the public health intervention as if it was high quality and this affected their subjective perceptions of its efficacy and trust in the provided information. This raises the ethical dilemma of weighing the importance of transparently stating when the evidence base is actually low quality against evidence that providing such information can decrease trust, perception of intervention efficacy, and likelihood of adopting it.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21255010v1" target="_blank">The effects of quality of evidence communication on perception of public health information about COVID-19: two randomised controlled trials</a>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Study in the Treatment of Patients With Moderate Course of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: COVID-globulin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Microgen Scientific Industrial Company for Immunobiological Medicines<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rehabilitation for Patients With Persistent Symptoms Post COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Concentrated rehabilitation for patients with persistent symptoms post COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Western Norway University of Applied Sciences;   Helse-Bergen HF<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Nurse-Community Health Worker-Family Partnership Model: Addressing Uptake of COVID-19 Testing and Control Measures</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Nurse-Community-Family Partnership Intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   New York University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy and Safety of Three Different Doses of an Anti SARS-CoV-2 Hyperimmune Equine Serum in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Anti SARS-CoV-2 equine hyperimmune serum;   Biological: placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social;   Universidad de Costa Rica;   Ministry of Health Costa Rica<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Viral Clearance, PK and Tolerability of Ensovibep in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: ensovibep<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Molecular Partners AG<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Clinical Study Evaluating Inhaled Aviptadil on COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Inhaled Aviptadil;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Centurion Pharma;   Klinar CRO<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy, Immunogenicity and Safety of Inactivated ERUCOV-VAC Compared With Placebo in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: ERUCOV-VAC 3 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: ERUCOV-VAC 6 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Health Institutes of Turkey;   Erciyes University Scientific Research Projects Coordination<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ACTIV-3b: Therapeutics for Severely Ill Inpatients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Remdesivir;   Drug: Remdesivir placebo;   Biological: VIP;   Drug: VIP Placebo;   Drug: Corticosteroid<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   NeuroRx, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effects of a Multi-factorial Rehabilitation Program for Healthcare Workers Suffering From Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Medical University of Vienna<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Dose Finding, Efficacy and Safety Study of Ensovibep (MP0420) in Ambulatory Adult Patients With Symptomatic COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: ensovibep;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Molecular Partners AG;   Novartis Pharmaceuticals;   Iqvia Pty Ltd;   Datamap;   SYNLAB Analytics &amp; Services Switzerland AG;   Q2 Solutions<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vitamin D, Omega-3, and Combination Vitamins B, C and Zinc Supplementation for the Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Vitamin D;   Dietary Supplement: Omega DHA / EPA;   Dietary Supplement: Vitamin C, Vitamin B complex and Zinc Acetate<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital de la Soledad;   Microclinic International<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Immunogenicity of the Inactivated Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine Compared to Placebo</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 4 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 6 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kocak Farma<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Impact of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation as an Immunomodulation on the Risk Reduction of COVID-19 Disease Progression With Escalating Cytokine Storm and Inflammatory Parameters</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Human fecal microbiota, MBiotix HBI;   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: SOC<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Medical University of Warsaw;   Human Biome Institute, Poland<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector) and RBD-based Protein Subunit Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: recombinant Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: RBD-based protein subunit vaccine (ZF2001) against COVID-19;   Biological: trivalent split influenza vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Total-Body Parametric 18F-FDG PET of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: uEXPLORER/mCT<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of California, Davis<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Validation of the VIRSeek SARS-CoV-2 Mplex assay for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 on Stainless Steel surfaces: AOAC Performance Tested MethodSM 122006</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Results of the inclusivity and exclusivity study show that the assay is specific for detection SARS-CoV-2. The POD study showed no statistically significant difference compared to the CDC reference method, results were identical for the uninoculated and the high level. For the fractional recovery level, the candidate method detected 9/17 samples leading to a POD of 0.47, the reference method detected 11/20 samples leading to a POD of 0.55.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Potential antiviral activity of isorhamnetin against SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudotyped virus in vitro</strong> - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths are still rising worldwide, there is currently no effective treatment for severe inflammation and acute lung injury caused by new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) infection. Therapies to prevent or treat COVID-19, including antiviral drug and several vaccines, are still being development. Human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), expressing in lung, has been confirmed to be a receptor for SARS-COV-2 infection, interventions for attachment of spike…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitors possess potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1, HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus</strong> - EK1 peptide is a membrane fusion inhibitor with broad-spectrum activity against human coronaviruses (CoVs). In the outbreak of COVID-19, we generated a lipopeptide EK1V1 by modifying EK1 with cholesterol, which exhibited significantly improved antiviral activity. In this study, we surprisingly found that EK1V1 also displayed potent cross-inhibitory activities against divergent HIV-1, HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) isolates. Consistently, the recently reported EK1 derivative EK1C4…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 main protease: a repurposing study that targets the dimer interface of the protein</strong> - Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was firstly reported in Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019, and emerged as a pandemic. The spread and lethality rates of the COVID-19 have ignited studies that focus on the development of therapeutics for either treatment or prophylaxis purposes. In parallel, drug repurposing studies have also come into prominence. Herein, we aimed at having a holistic understanding of conformational and dynamical changes induced by an experimentally characterized inhibitor…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Structure-based phylogeny identifies Avoralstat as a TMPRSS2 inhibitor that prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice</strong> - Drugs targeting host proteins can act prophylactically to reduce viral burden early in disease and limit morbidity, even with antivirals and vaccination. Transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) is a human protease required for SARS-CoV-2 viral entry and may represent such a target. We hypothesized that drugs selected from proteins related by their tertiary structure, rather than their primary structure, were likely to interact with TMPRSS2. We created a structure-based phylogenetic…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Activity of Andrographis paniculata Extract and Its Major Component Andrographolide in Human Lung Epithelial Cells and Cytotoxicity Evaluation in Major Organ Cell Representatives</strong> - The coronaviruses disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a major health problem, affecting more than 50 million people with over one million deaths globally. Effective antivirals are still lacking. Here, we optimized a high-content imaging platform and the plaque assay for viral output study using the legitimate model of human lung epithelial cells, Calu-3, to determine the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of Andrographis paniculata extract and its major component,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Elucidation of the inhibitory activity of ivermectin with host nuclear importin alpha and several SARS-CoV-2 targets</strong> - Ivermectin (IVM) is an FDA-approved drug that has shown antiviral activity against a wide variety of viruses in recent years. IVM inhibits the formation of the importin-α/β1 heterodimeric complex responsible for the translocation and replication of various viral species proteins. Also, IVM hampers SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro; however, the molecular mechanism through which IVM inhibits SARS-CoV-2 is not well understood. Previous studies have explored the molecular mechanism through which IVM…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In search of drugs to alleviate suppression of the host’s innate immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 using a molecular modeling approach</strong> - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the novel SARS-CoV-2 evade the host innate immunity, and subsequently the adaptive immune response, employing one protease called Papain-like protease (PLpro). The PLpro and the 3CL main protease are responsible for the cleavage of the polyproteins encoded by the + sense RNA genome of the virus to produce several non-structured proteins (NSPs). However, the PLpro also performs…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reducing SARS-CoV-2 Pathological Protein Activity with Small Molecules</strong> - Coronaviruses are dangerous human and animal pathogens. The newly identified coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19 outbreak, which is a real threat to human health and life. The world has been struggling with this epidemic for about a year, yet there are still no targeted drugs and effective treatments are very limited. Due to the long process of developing new drugs, reposition of existing ones is one of the best ways to deal with an epidemic of emergency infectious…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Third force in the treatment of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> - CONCLUSION: Remdesivir is useful in the treatment of COVID-19 especially the severe disease. However, it should be used with caution since all the adverse effects are not known. We recommend Remdesivir as an alternative/third-force in the treatment of severe and critical COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Spike Protein Based Novel Epitopes Induce Potent Immune Responses in vivo and Inhibit Viral Replication in vitro</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) initiates infection by attachment of the surface-exposed spike glycoprotein to the host cell receptors. The spike glycoprotein (S) is a promising target for inducing immune responses and providing protection; thus the ongoing efforts for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and therapeutic developments are mostly spiraling around S glycoprotein. The matured functional spike glycoprotein is presented on the virion surface as trimers, which contain…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of Plitidepsin as Potent Inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2-Induced Cytopathic Effect After a Drug Repurposing Screen</strong> - There is an urgent need to identify therapeutics for the treatment of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although different antivirals are given for the clinical management of SARS-CoV-2 infection, their efficacy is still under evaluation. Here, we have screened existing drugs approved for human use in a variety of diseases, to compare how they counteract SARS-CoV-2-induced cytopathic effect and viral replication in vitro. Among the potential 72 antivirals tested herein that were previously…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tamarind (<em>Tamarindus indica</em> L.) Seed a Candidate Protein Source with Potential for Combating SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Obesity</strong> - CONCLUSION:: Thus, TTI may contribute to combating two severe overlapping problems with high cost and social complex implications, obesity and COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reviving chloroquine for anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatment with cucurbit[7]uril-based supramolecular formulation</strong> - The wide-spreading SARS-CoV-2 virus has put the world into boiling water for more than a year, however pharmacological therapies to act effectively against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain elusive. Chloroquine (CQ), an antimalarial drug, was found to exhibit promising antiviral activity in vitro and in vivo at a high dosage, thus CQ was approved by the FDA for the emergency use authorization (EUA) in the fight against COVID-19 in the US, but later was revoked the EUA status due to the…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Identification of Novel Inhibitors of Human Angiotensin-converting Enzyme 2 and Main Protease of Sars-Cov-2: A Combination of in silico Methods for Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and main protease (MPro), are the putative drug candidates for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this study, we performed 3D-QSAR pharmacophore modeling and screened 1264479 ligands gathered from Pubchem and Zinc databases. Following the calculation of the ADMET properties, molecular docking was carried out. Moreover, the de novo ligand design was performed. MD simulation was then applied to survey the behavior of the…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>5-(4-TERT-BUTOXY PHENYL)-3-(4N-OCTYLOXYPHENYL)-4,5-DIHYDROISOXAZOLE MOLECULE (C-I): A PROMISING DRUG FOR SARS-COV-2 (TARGET I) AND BLOOD CANCER (TARGET II)</strong> - The present invention relates to a method ofmolecular docking of crystalline compound (C-I) with SARS-COV 2 proteins and its repurposing with proteins of blood cancer, comprising the steps of ; employing an algorithmto carry molecular docking calculations of the crystalized compound (C-I); studying the compound computationally to understand the effect of binding groups with the atoms of the amino acids on at least four target proteins of SARS-COV 2; downloading the structure of the proteins; removing water molecules, co enzymes and inhibitors attached to the enzymes; drawing the structure using Chem Sketch software; converting the mol file into a PDB file; using crystalized compound (C-I) for comparative and drug repurposing with two other mutated proteins; docking compound into the groove of the proteins; saving format of docked molecules retrieved; and filtering and docking the best docked results. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN320884617">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>USING CLINICAL ONTOLOGIES TO BUILD KNOWLEDGE BASED CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) WITH THE ADOPTION OF TELECONFERENCING FOR THE PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRES/SATELLITE CLINICS OF ROYAL OMAN POLICE IN SULTANATE OF OMAN</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU320796026">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptides and their use in diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319943278">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF COVID 19 POSITIVE PATIENTS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319942709">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IN SILICO SCREENING OF ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL NATURAL COMPOUNDS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO DIRECTLY INHIBIT SARS COV 2</strong> - IN SILICO SCREENING OF ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL NATURAL COMPOUNDS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO DIRECTLY INHIBIT SARS COV 2Insilico screening of antimycobacterial natural compounds with the potential to directly inhibit SARS COV2 relates to the composition for treating SARS-COV-2 comprising the composition is about 0.1 – 99% and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients. The composition also treats treating SARS, Ebola, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis–C comprising the composition is about 0.1 – 99% and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN320777840">link</a></p></li>
<li><strong>Aronia-Mundspray</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Anordnung zum Versprühen einer Substanz in die menschliche Mundhöhle und/oder in den Rachen oder zum Trinken, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Anordnung eine Flasche mit einer Substanz aufweist, die wenigstens Aroniasaft und eine Alkoholkomponente aufweist und einen Sprühkopf besitzt.
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE321222630">link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>INTERFASE ANTIBACTERIANA Y VIRICIDA PARA VENTILACION MECANICA NO INVASIVA</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=ES319943963">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种用于检测新型冠状病毒COVID-19的引物组及试剂盒</strong> - 本发明涉及生物技术领域，特别是涉及一种用于检测冠状病毒的引物组及试剂盒，所述引物组包括以下中的一对或多对：外侧引物对：所述外侧引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:1所示的上游引物F3和如SEQ ID NO:2所示的下游引物B3；内侧引物对：所述内侧引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:3所示的上游引物FIP和如SEQ ID NO:4所示的下游引物BIP；环引物对：所述环引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:5所示的上游引物LF和如SEQ ID NO:6所示的下游引物LB。试剂盒包括所述引物组。本发明在一个管中整合了RT‑LAMP和CRISPR，能依据两次颜色变化检测病毒和各种靶标核酸。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN321132047">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新冠病毒中和性抗体检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明提供一种新冠病毒中和性抗体检测试剂盒。所述试剂盒基于BAS‑HTRF技术，主要包含：生物素标记的hACE2、新冠病毒棘突蛋白RBD‑Tag1、能量供体Streptavidin‑Eu cryptate、能量受体MAb Anti‑Tag1‑d2和新冠病毒中和性抗体。本发明将BAS和HTRF两种技术相结合，用于筛选新型冠状病毒中和性抗体，3小时内即可实现筛选，且操作简单，无需经过多次洗板过程。BAS和HTRF联用大大提升了反应灵敏度，且两种体系都能最大限度地减少非特异的干扰，适用于血清样品的检测。该方法可实现高通量检测，对解决大批量样品的新冠病毒中和性抗体的检测具有重要意义。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN321131958">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Infektionsschutzmaske</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Infektionsschutzmaske (1) zum Schutz vor Übertragung von Infektionskrankheiten mit einer Außen - und einer Innenseite (2,3) sowie Haltemitteln (5) zum Befestigen der Infektionsschutzmaske (1) am Kopf eines Maskenträgers, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass an der Infektionsschutzmaske (1) mindestens eine Testoberfläche (6) zum Nachweis von Auslösern einer Infektionskrankheit derart angeordnet ist, dass diese bei korrekt angelegter Infektionsschutzmaske (1) mit der Ausatemluft des Maskenträgers unmittelbar in Kontakt gelangt.</p></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE321222652">link</a></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brazil’s COVID-19 Crisis and Jair Bolsonaro’s Presidential Chaos</strong> - Is the President’s do-nothing approach to the pandemic finally becoming a threat to his political future? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/brazils-covid-19-crisis-and-jair-bolsonaros-presidential-chaos">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Parisians Housing Refugees During the Pandemic</strong> - Hundreds in the city have joined an ad-hoc shelter system, opening spare bedrooms and living rooms to migrants and asylum seekers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-europe/the-parisians-housing-refugees-during-the-pandemic">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Alexey Navalny Returned to Russia</strong> - The opposition politician, who is two weeks into a hunger strike, differs from the Soviet-era dissidents, who believed that they were fighting for principle but could never defeat the system. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-alexey-navalny-returned-to-russia">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Grim Compassion of Searching for Missing Migrants in the Desert</strong> - The humanitarian volunteer group Águilas del Desierto searches the hostile land near the U.S. southern border for those who have disappeared. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-grim-compassion-of-searching-for-missing-migrants-in-the-desert">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Shooting of Daunte Wright and the Meaning of George Floyd’s Death</strong> - How much has changed since the events of last spring? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-shooting-of-daunte-wright-and-the-meaning-of-george-floyds-death">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>“It is not a blockade”: US says Saudi Arabia isn’t to blame for Yemen’s fuel shortage</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A person carrying a large sack of food, taken from the back of a small truck, on their head." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g0TzCgJyBY6o0EicB0CChd4L_Eg=/416x0:2667x1688/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69124023/1231834808.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
People displaced by conflict receive food aid donated by a Kuwaiti charity organization in the western Yemeni province of Hodeidah on March 20. | Khaled Ziad/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Is there a fuel blockade in Yemen? It’s complicated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ayJq5">
A March <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/10/middleeast/yemen-famine-saudi-fuel-intl/index.html">CNN</a> report reignited calls, mainly from <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/9/22375381/saudi-arabia-yemen-blockade-biden-letter">Democrats and progressive activists</a>, for the US to do more to pressure Saudi Arabia to end what they call its “blockade” of Yemen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o1f18E">
The report said Saudi warships were blockading the Yemeni coast, preventing fuel tankers from docking in the country’s main port of Hodeidah, and that this fuel blockade is directly contributing to the ongoing famine and humanitarian crisis in the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VtshaB">
Understandably, this led some activists and <a href="https://teddeutch.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402947">lawmakers</a> to demand Biden do more to make Saudi lift the blockade and allow in the desperately needed fuel.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pWIewr">
There’s just one problem: The Biden administration says there isn’t a blockade — and that any restrictions that are in place aren’t coming directly from the Saudis, but mainly from Yemen’s internationally recognized government. The issue is exacerbated, they say, by the Houthi rebels who control most of the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DNZpk1">
That’s a pretty stark disagreement. And it’s one that has critical implications for the lives of millions of Yemenis who are caught in the middle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ISCyWN">
Here’s what we know about what’s actually happening in Yemen, who is responsible for the shortages causing millions of Yemenis to suffer, and whether the Biden administration can or should be doing more to help.
</p>
<h3 id="YgsRoe">
CNN’s blockade report launched a firestorm of controversy
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ZONzS">
Saudi Arabia, along with several other countries in the region that joined its war effort, has been fighting a war in Yemen since 2015. They’re fighting to oust the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran that had just overthrown Yemen’s internationally recognized government led by President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AUrzxW">
The Saudi-led coalition, which until recently was also supported by the US, wants to return Hadi, who currently lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, to power.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="koQ3MP">
When Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war, they used military force to stop <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-blockade-biden-pressure-saudi-arabia-democrats">planes from landing and ships from docking in Yemen</a>, saying such measures were necessary to stop the Houthis from <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-blockade-biden-pressure-saudi-arabia-democrats">smuggling in weapons</a>, including from Iran.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lDz51O">
But critics warned the blockade would keep much-needed food, fuel, medicine, and humanitarian aid from reaching desperate Yemenis, including millions of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2020/11/19/yemens-children-a-crisis-within-a-crisis/">children</a>, who are caught in the middle of the fighting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bFAq55">
That concern proved devastatingly prophetic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hlij9P">
The <a href="http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1152947/?iso3=YEM">Integrated Food Security Phase Classification</a>, the world’s top authority on food security, said last year that 47,000 Yemenis were suffering from famine-like conditions and that more than 16 million — over half of Yemen’s population — couldn’t reliably and adequately feed themselves. United Nations agencies have said that at least <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-malnutrition-int/at-least-400000-yemeni-children-under-5-could-die-of-starvation-this-year-un-agencies-idUSKBN2AC18V">400,000 Yemeni children</a> could die this year alone if conditions don’t improve.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o59J-1r93Teg1GVj4sXMpnVp7RM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441828/1312182799.jpg"/> <cite>Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A Yemeni girl from a family who was affected by the war checks her lunch from a charitable center on April 12 in Sana’a, Yemen.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWLQ5g">
What CNN found last month fit the years-long pattern: Saudi warships had kept all oil tankers from docking in the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah since the start of the year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKeD7p">
“The Saudi vessels that patrol the waters of Hodeidah have control over which commercial ships can dock and unload their cargo,” the outlet reported. “Some goods are getting through — CNN witnessed aid being loaded on to trucks at the port after being delivered by ship — but not any fuel to deliver them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7sklmL">
This is what has activists so angry. “Food and medicine can’t be transported without fuel,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s lead lobbyist for Middle East policy. “It’s causing a humanitarian nightmare in Yemen right now.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7xPtTV">
What’s more, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/news-release/yemen-heading-toward-biggest-famine-in-modern-history/">hospitals are losing power</a> because they don’t have enough fuel to keep the lights on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TEoiZh">
In early February, President <a href="https://www.vox.com/22268082/biden-yemen-war-saudi-state-speech">Joe Biden</a> promised the US would stop supporting the Saudi-led coalition’s offensive operations in the war. But, he added, “We’re going to continue to support and help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity and its people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fxFPAN">
In light of the CNN report, progressive activists and some Democrats want Biden to go further. Last week, nearly <a href="https://debbiedingell.house.gov/uploadedfiles/yemen_blockade_letter_with_signers_final.pdf?utm_campaign=1069-404">80 Democrats</a> sent a letter to the president demanding he do more to push Riyadh to end the blockade once and for all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EAWhp2">
The problem, though, is that the Biden administration has a totally different read of the situation.
</p>
<h3 id="ag9Ps1">
What the Biden administration says: It’s not a blockade, and it’s not really the Saudis
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GqctX6">
While reporting on the letter Democrats sent to Biden, I asked the State Department for comment, as the agency’s special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, is leading America’s diplomatic response to the crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSyKiy">
It turns out the State Department disagrees with the growing narrative since the CNN report’s release.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mt43jB">
“It is not a blockade,” a spokesperson for the agency said Monday. “Food is getting through, commodities are getting through, so it is not a blockade.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jSrTKo">
However, the administration does acknowledge there has been a slowdown in the amount of fuel coming into the country, and they’re concerned about it. “The United States understands the urgent need for fuel to get into Hodeidah port,” Lenderking told me on Tuesday. “This is a constant priority in our conversations with ​the Republic of Yemen government​ and Saudi Arabia.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zDwlbCzAMyKvFKs2VoTbbyo1Ijc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441836/481531098.jpg"/> <cite>Carolyn Kaster/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Tim Lenderking, left, was the deputy chief of mission in Saudi Arabia when then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, visited on July 22, 2015.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S24xcZ">
But the primary culprit for the fuel slowdown, the State Department and the National Security Council contend, is not Saudi Arabia but rather the Hadi government.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lMGr4Q">
Here’s why: Even though it doesn’t actually control the bulk of the country and is operating out of Saudi Arabia, it is still the legitimate, recognized government of Yemen and thus retains authority over who is allowed to dock in Yemen’s ports.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cl8oeh">
Which means that if the Hadi government doesn’t grant permission to a particular ship to dock in Hodeidah (or elsewhere), that ship can’t dock. The Saudi-led coalition enforces those decisions if necessary with its ships and planes, blocking any vessels Hadi’s government says can’t come in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H9wSi1">
And that process of approving ships to dock is where the State Department says the real problem lies, leading to the fuel shortage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YGDj8e">
The State Department said it opposes any arbitrary restrictions of commodities entering Yemen, but that “we respect the right of the government to control its access to ports.” However, the spokesperson added, “We do press them and work with them to make sure that their process improves and runs as smoothly as possible.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VKgQb8">
In other words, nobody, including the Saudis, is solely for malicious purposes trying to cut off fuel from Yemen. It’s just that the Hadi government’s approval whims are the main issue here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m4mQD9">
“It may have faltered, it may not be perfect, it may not be smooth, but it is a Yemeni government process, it is not a Saudi government process,” the State Department spokesperson told me. “We are working with many government officials to try to improve it, to make it as smooth as possible.”
</p>
<h3 id="zbRo8W">
Okay, so who’s right?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="siF8GA">
It’s important to keep three main questions in mind when trying to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong:
</p>
<ol>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UWmOPq">
Is fuel being blocked from reaching Yemen’s most vulnerable?
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXc52v">
If so, who is responsible for blocking it?
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yeepzc">
Are they doing it on purpose?
</li>
</ol>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f45fOL">
The answer to the first question seems to be yes. <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen_Humanitarian_Update_2021_No_3.pdf">Data from the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen</a>, the UN body that inspects certain ships coming into the country, clearly shows a significant drop-off of fuel making it into the country over the past two months.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GdZrMaOxVTNf0L5imYaalOz4y6c=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22440634/Screen_Shot_2021_04_13_at_9.38.52_AM.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen_Humanitarian_Update_2021_No_3.pdf" target="_blank">OCHA Yemen</a></cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Picpo4">
However, the Biden administration is correct that it’s not exactly a “blockade,” as <a href="https://www.vimye.org/doc/SAMonthly/20210228_Monthly_Situation_Analysis_February2021.png">UN data</a> shows food and fuel are still getting in. The below snapshot from a March 2021 report shows that food imports actually increased from 2019 to 2020.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KcRntyyykUU3CDa5YgrOLSji_5U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22440693/Screen_Shot_2021_04_13_at_10.09.52_AM.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.vimye.org/doc/SAMonthly/20210228_Monthly_Situation_Analysis_February2021.png" target="_blank">UNVIM</a></cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SnSdVo">
And even as fuel went down to zero in February and barely rose in March, food and other cargo were still getting into Yemen, including through Hodeidah.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EzXE_ydJz0rhany3WPwFHltAq-E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441793/Screen_Shot_2021_04_13_at_10.18.16_AM.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.vimye.org/doc/OSMonthly/Operational_Snapshot_March2021.png" target="_blank">UNVIM</a></cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QQJDME">
As to who is blocking the fuel, both sides are kind of right and kind of wrong.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPEFk2">
The Biden administration is correct that any ship carrying fuel must receive approval from the Hadi government to unload at a Yemeni port like Hodeidah. “They have the final say on who gets in,” a spokesperson for the UN office overseeing the crisis in Yemen told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hikL6Q">
But Saudi Arabia’s ships are the ones doing the actual physical blocking. So it is partly their fault, too, as they could choose not to do that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xrAuk2">
The Houthis are partly to blame here, too. Experts told me the rebels aren’t great about dispersing the fuel that is allowed to come off the ships. Sometimes they shut down gas stations so that the price of fuel they control on the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-economy-fuel/lines-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see-new-fuel-shortage-hits-yemen-idUSKBN1WE0BF">black market</a> goes up. So they are also responsible for why fuel isn’t getting to those who need it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OwQPtT">
As to the third question, is any of this happening on purpose, the answer also seems to be yes. All three parties — the Hadi government, the Saudis, and the Houthis — are guilty of purposely using fuel, and access to it, as a weapon in this war.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L9r3LM">
In 2018, the warring parties agreed in <a href="https://osesgy.unmissions.org/year-after-stockholm-agreement-where-are-we-now">Stockholm, Sweden</a>, to, among other things, use revenues from imports at Hodeidah to pay civil service salaries in Yemen. In March 2020, though, the Houthis diverted 50 billion Yemeni rials (roughly <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.xe.com%2Fcurrencyconverter%2Fconvert%2F%3FAmount%3D50000000000%26From%3DYER%26To%3DUSD&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2021%2F4%2F14%2F22381459%2Fyemen-blockade-saudi-arabia-biden-cnn" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">$200 million</a>) and used the money mostly to fund their fight — a conclusion confirmed by the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/S_2021_79_E.pdf">United Nations</a> in January.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W2Gdia">
The State Department spokesperson made the same charge: “The Houthis profit from the trade, fuel, and those funds to support their warfront.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F6MJgT">
Experts told me in order to stop the Houthis from doing that, the Hadi government — with the Saudi-led coalition’s help — has denied permits to fuel ships in Hodeidah.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3G3w6Y">
In other words, the severe restrictions in fuel imports at Hodeidah aren’t happening out of pure malice, but they are happening on purpose. It’s part of an effort by the Hadi government and the Saudis to stop the Houthis from exploiting fuel revenues for their own benefit. The Hadi government “has declined to let them in [to Hodeidah] because of a long-running dispute with the Houthis over revenue payments,” the UN spokesperson told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0wN0XC">
But that doesn’t mean State is pleased with what’s going on. The spokesperson said that the US is telling the Hadi government it should still allow fuel ships to dock and unload in Hodeidah despite their concerns over the Houthis. “We’ve really been encouraging them to understand the humanitarian imperative,” they told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CKecq4">
So case closed? Not exactly.
</p>
<h3 id="WGzTq8">
Activists say the Biden administration can and should still be doing more to pressure Saudi Arabia
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vi8SMk">
It’s true that the Hadi government is denying permits for some vessels. It’s also true that the Houthis are siphoning off fuel for their own benefit. But could fuel flow more easily into Yemen if the Saudi-led coalition chose not to block ships from docking and unloading? Of course.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c6B1w2">
This is a point activists can’t see past. “I don’t buy that is the Yemeni government’s fault. They do not have the navy or aircraft to bomb a ship that threatens to break the blockade,” said Aisha Jumaan, president of the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation. “This is nonsense, and the State Department knows that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UaF55O">
“It is hard to fathom that after six years, the US is casting doubt about the existence of the oppressive blockade,” she continued. “It is harder because it is from the Biden administration from whom we expected better judgment.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LkBS5yhVpSNu5oaWmrTN2uxmZ-g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441840/1232201726.jpg"/> <cite>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Twenty-six-year-old Iman Saleh (L), on her 12th day of a hunger strike for Yemen, speaks during a press conference alongisde Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at Black Lives Matter Plaza on April 9 in Washington, DC.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ivgJh6">
In other words, it’s pretty clear that the Biden administration is downplaying the Saudi role during this entire episode. Secretary of State <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-the-2021-high-level-pledging-event-for-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-yemen/">Antony Blinken</a> on March 1 did “call on all parties to allow the unhindered import and distribution of fuel,” but didn’t specifically call Riyadh out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BMg0UV">
That’s surprising for two reasons, experts say. First, the Biden administration has said that human rights are “<a href="https://www.state.gov/putting-human-rights-at-the-center-of-u-s-foreign-policy/">at the center of US foreign policy</a>.” Minimizing Riyadh’s role in blocking fuel into Yemen isn’t making human rights a priority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7JKYqF">
Second, it’s not like the Saudis have downplayed their own role. In March, Saudi Foreign Minister <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/03/23/Full-text-of-Saudi-Arabia-s-new-peace-initiative-to-end-Yemen-war">Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud</a> proposed to reopen the airport in Sana’a in exchange for a ceasefire — the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/middleeast/saudi-yemen-peace-initiative-intl/index.html">first time</a> Riyadh openly acknowledged carrying out any kind of blocking effort in Yemen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P8YoCZ">
Further, the Saudi-led coalition allowed at least <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-ports/saudi-led-coalition-clears-four-fuel-ships-to-dock-at-yemens-hodeidah-port-sources-idUSKBN2BG12N">four fuel ships in Hodeidah’s port</a> in March after the Hadi government gave its approval, shortly following pressure from the CNN report. It’s clear, then, that Riyadh plays a key role in deciding which ships do and don’t get to operate in Hodeidah.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GfzxYF">
This is something UN World Food Program Director David Beasley noted openly last month. “The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis,” he said in a <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-calls-urgent-funds-avert-famine">speech</a> to the UN Security Council. When I asked Beasley’s team what he precisely meant by “blockade,” a spokesperson said that “the fuel shortage is in reference to the coalition blockade.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIfu2Q">
Beasley’s remarks follow many other instances of the <a href="https://threader.app/thread/1381954321353482241">UN</a> calling the Saudi-led coalition’s efforts a “blockade.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mhxG9m">
The question now is why the Biden administration won’t more openly and forcefully deride Riyadh’s involvement in blocking fuel from getting into Yemen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3jWQSh">
Analysts say one consideration is that the US is trying to broker a peace agreement between the Saudi-led coalition, the Hadi government, and the Houthis. If the Biden administration berates the Saudis repeatedly, they might lose leverage with a key party in those talks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WKAlYE">
Another reason experts noted is that the US is in the middle of negotiations to reenter the Iran nuclear deal, an accord Riyadh doesn’t like. By not speaking out against Saudi Arabia’s complicity in blocking fuel into Yemen, then Riyadh implicitly understands it isn’t to speak out about the Iran diplomacy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQXPM4">
There’s one more: Pushing for Saudi Arabia and its partners to “end the blockade” could lead to the <a href="https://twitter.com/nickjbrumfield/status/1380678279615631364?s=21">dissolution of the UN ship-inspection system</a> that was put in place to facilitate shipments during a war and humanitarian crisis and curb the smuggling of weapons to the Houthis. If that happens, then it’d be far easier for Iran to send arms to the Houthis and further inflame the war. That also wouldn’t reverse the humanitarian disaster brought on by years of fighting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B82fDB">
Whatever the reason, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on the Biden administration to “urgently push” Riyadh to stop helping keep fuel from reaching Yemeni ports.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ljsFru">
“The interference, delay, and outright blocking of commercial goods and humanitarian assistance shipped to Yemen’s ports is a principal cause of price inflation, food insecurity, economic collapse, and the failure of public services in Yemen,” House of Representatives members wrote in a <a href="https://teddeutch.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402947">letter</a> to Secretary of State Blinken on Tuesday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hKpubp">
It’s unclear if Biden or his team will listen to them. What is clear, though, is that without Riyadh, a lot more fuel would be flowing into Yemen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8gQs4B">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QMpdpI">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RfQzhQ">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t99Yqi">
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why some of the most liberal Democrats in Congress want to bring back a tax break for the rich</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Sen Charles Schumer and Rep. Tom Suozzi at a press conference in 2020." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xAdStoquKzUAe1USYjfOy6mEAF8=/0x0:5859x4394/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69123969/1256311254.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Tom Suozzi, both of New York, announce their plan to restore the SALT tax deduction on July 14, 2020. They are joined by some big-name progressives in their push, including Reps. Katie Porter and Jamaal Bowman. | Raychel Brightman/Newsday RM/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Democrats want to raise taxes. So why are they debating cutting them for some well-off taxpayers?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ziuIoe">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SOLoMH">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JyyYxT">
Democrats are trying to figure out how to pay for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/31/22357179/biden-two-trillion-infrastructure-jobs-plan-explained">President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan</a> and raise hundreds of billions of dollars to put toward rebuilding American roads and bridges. And yet somehow one of the big internal battles happening on the left is not about putting in place a more progressive tax regime, but reinstating one that can look quite regressive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7a7UAk">
In their 2017 tax bill, Republicans <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/30/16380578/salt-vulnerable-house-republicans">partially closed a tax loophole</a> that mainly affected higher-income people in high-tax areas — i.e., relatively well-off people in blue states. They capped the state and local tax deduction (<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/30/16557554/the-state-and-local-tax-deduction-explained">SALT</a>) people can take when calculating their federal income tax at $10,000. People can still deduct state and local taxes from their federal tax bill, but only up to that point.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="50sNzf">
Many Democrats — namely, those from states such as New York, New Jersey, and California — <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-salt-limit-taxes-schumer-f9a64b25-731c-4076-a13e-1535fb78fb15.html?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=editorial&amp;utm_content=politics-saltcap">want to repeal</a> the SALT deduction cap and go back to the old regime, where people could deduct all (or at least more) of their state and local taxes. They argue the cap unfairly drives up their constituents’ tax bills, might keep their states from implementing more progressive tax regimes on high-income people, and was a vindictive move by the GOP in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ch2HCU">
“It was mean-spirited to begin with, politically targeted,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at a press conference on April 1.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tYyVHI">
But some Democrats, Republicans, and economists are saying hold the phone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kCF2av">
“The vast majority of the benefits of repealing the SALT cap would go to the people at the very top. It would also be costly — and for that amount, we could finance much more worthy efforts to support American families and workers. We can say we are for a progressive tax code and for fighting inequality, or we can support the SALT deduction, but it is really hard to do both,” said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) in a statement to Vox. When the Senate took up a vote on whether to repeal the SALT cap in December 2019, he was the <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2019/10/23/senate-rejects-repeal-of-state-and-local-tax-deduction-cap-rule/">only Democrat to vote against it</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vyIySa">
It’s an issue where, ideologically, the stars don’t entirely align: Rep. Katie Porter <a href="https://porter.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=88">wants to scrap the SALT cap</a>; JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/jamie-dimon-slams-state-and-local-tax-repeal-as-a-benefit-to-the-rich-.html">doesn’t</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QypHz0">
A <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2021/4/dfp-vox-salt-cap-deduction.pdf">poll</a> conducted by Vox and Data for Progress found that repealing the SALT cap isn’t popular among the broader electorate. Independents and Republicans generally oppose axing it, though a plurality of Democrats support repeal. According to the survey, which was conducted from April 9-12 of 1,217 likely voters, <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2021/4/dfp-salt-cap-region.pdf">urban voters were likelier to support repealing the cap</a> than rural and suburban voters. The poll noted that restoring the full state and local tax deduction would primarily benefit well-off Americans.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A chart showing the results of a poll on repealing the SALT deduction cap." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8WFe6rtGjKl57mGusNBMmrS74Xo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441883/SALT_tax_deduction_poll_Data_for_Progress.png"/> <cite>Data for Progress</cite>
<figcaption>
Restoring the full state and local tax deduction doesn’t poll very well among likely voters, though Democrats like it more than Republicans and independents.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c2ZT7R">
Many moderate Democrats are arguing for the SALT deduction cap to be lifted, but so are some progressives. Take a look at New York Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate who represents parts of Long Island and Queens in New York, and has adopted, “No SALT, no deal,” as a sort of tagline on infrastructure as of late. “The first thing is just basic fairness, it’s not fair that you pay taxes on taxes you’ve already paid,” he said in an interview with Vox. Suozzi is joined by Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones on the issue. They’re both Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-aligned progressives and newly minted members of “<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/the-squad-cori-bush-jamaal-bowman-mondaire-jones-aoc/">the Squad</a>.”
</p>
<div id="82P32S">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Yesterday, I joined <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMondaire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RepMondaire">@RepMondaire</span></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RepTomSuozzi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RepTomSuozzi">@RepTomSuozzi</span></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RyeGSL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RyeGSL">@RyeGSL</span></a> to discuss repealing the $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. <br/><br/>We need to repeal this cap and put money back into the hands of middle-class families. <a href="https://t.co/212GhFUvdT">pic.twitter.com/212GhFUvdT</a>
</p>
— Congressman Jamaal Bowman (<span class="citation" data-cites="RepBowman">@RepBowman</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBowman/status/1375447565857083399?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lICi2Z">
The debate over Democrats’ next move on infrastructure, which Biden has put forth as part of his American Jobs Plan, and whether and how to pay for it through taxes, is just getting started. Plenty of proposals are going to be on the table, including SALT. The White House has signaled some openness to it, but the matter is far from settled.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wW36UA">
“If Democrats want to propose a way to eliminate SALT — which is not a revenue raiser, as you know; it would cost more money — and they want to propose a way to pay for it, and they want to put that forward, we’re happy to hear their ideas,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing on April 1.
</p>
<h3 id="UTnkDd">
SALT, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pVqIMy">
When people file their taxes, they can deduct certain expenses to make their taxable incomes lower. A lot of people just take the “standard deduction” and lop off a flat amount. Others, however, choose to <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/itemizeddeduction.asp#:~:text=An%20itemized%20deduction%20is%20an,amount%20of%20taxes%20you%20owe.&amp;text=Allowable%20itemized%20deductions%2C%20sometimes%20subject,gifts%2C%20and%20unreimbursed%20medical%20expenses.">itemize their deductions</a>, so they can subtract things like charitable deductions and medical expenses. Generally, taxpayers choose whichever avenue will be more beneficial for them — as in, whichever will leave them with less income to be taxed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KINDYa">
For decades, taxpayers who itemized their federal income taxes could deduct what they paid in state and local property taxes and either income or sales taxes (whichever was higher). It was one of the biggest federal tax expenditures, according to <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-deduction-state-and-local-taxes-work">the Tax Policy Center</a>. “One way to view the deduction was as an indirect subsidy for states, and basically, the federal government was saying to taxpayers, ‘We’ll take up 37 percent of the cost of your state and local taxes,’” said Frank Sammartino, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ck0FQm">
But with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 under then-President Donald Trump, that changed: the law capped the state and local deduction at $10,000. Sammartino explained who was hit: “If you’re high-income and in a state with high state and local taxes, this is going to bite you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qnFtly">
The legislation also basically doubled the standard deduction from $6,500 to $12,000 for individuals and from $13,000 to $24,000 for couples, which softened the blow a little bit. But for many taxpayers, it still stung.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SS8fht">
Prior to the 2017 tax bill, about 30 percent of taxpayers itemized deductions on their federal returns, including claiming the SALT deduction. The higher-income the household, the likelier the deduction: in 2017, 16 percent of taxpayers with incomes between $20,000 and $50,000 claimed the deduction, compared to two-thirds of taxpayers in the $100,000 to $200,000 threshold and 9 in 10 taxpayers with incomes above $200,000. After the 2017 law, the proportion of people who itemize deductions on their taxes <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/salt-deduction-cap-testimony-2019/#_ftn14">fell to about 10 percent</a>, and an estimated two-thirds of them have an income of over $100,000. “Those that continue to itemize are generally high-income taxpayers,” Sammartino said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TN3xBa">
According to estimates from the <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/repealing-salt-cap-would-be-regressive-and-proposed-offset-would-use-up-needed">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities</a>, if the SALT cap — which is set to expire in 2025 — were to be repealed earlier, it would overwhelmingly benefit those at the higher end of the income scale — the ones who were hurt by the bill back in 2017. The CBPP estimates that more than half of the benefit would go to the top 1 percent, and over 80 percent would go to the top 5 percent, of earners.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A chart showing the top 5 percent of earners would get most of the benefits of repealing the SALT deduction cap, and the top 1 percent would get more than half of the benefits." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/F_PI9UFsNAf9KzPFSCFeq2pvyiw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22438807/SALT_Benefits_CBPP.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.cbpp.org/" target="_blank">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities</a></cite>
<figcaption>
Lifting the cap on the SALT deduction would disproportionately benefit the top 5 percent of earners.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Se4657">
The deduction is geographically concentrated as well. Prior to the TCJA, the 10 counties benefiting the most from the deduction <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/state-and-local-tax-deduction-by-county-2016/">were in four states</a>: California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. And six states <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/state-and-local-tax-deduction-primer/">claimed over half of the deduction</a>: California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It’s <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-deduction-state-and-local-taxes-work">popular in other states</a>, too, including Utah, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington, DC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dw42Fk">
While the burden of the SALT cap falls disproportionately on high-income taxpayers in those states, it can affect other people too. In a state like New Jersey, people’s property taxes can be high even though they’re not super rich. And in New York City, $150,000 in annual income isn’t landing you in a Fifth Avenue penthouse. Still, given the data, it’s hard to argue that scrapping the cap on SALT deductions is squarely aimed at helping the middle class.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2pbPKA">
Some economists have even changed their minds on it. Jason Furman, President Barack Obama’s chief economist, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/30/16557554/the-state-and-local-tax-deduction-explained">did a tweet thread</a> in 2017 that my colleague Dylan Matthews documented at the time, arguing lawmakers should keep the SALT deduction in place, making the case that Republicans were doing away with it to pay for tax cuts for even richer people (which to a certain extent, they were). Furman has since described restoring the deduction as a “<a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/obama-economist-says-restoring-salt-deduction-a-waste-of-money">waste of money</a>” and the “<a href="https://twitter.com/jasonfurman/status/1355202945449553920?s=20">Democratic version of trickle-down economics</a>.”
</p>
<div id="s6Th8H">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
I like calling SALT repeal the Democratic version of trickle-down economics.<br/><br/>It is <em>slightly better</em> trickle down but slightly better than terrible is, well, pretty bad.
</p>
— Jason Furman (<span class="citation" data-cites="jasonfurman">@jasonfurman</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonfurman/status/1355202945449553920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7DlBK3">
Jared Bernstein, one of Biden’s top economic advisers, isn’t a fan of putting the full SALT deduction back in place, either.
</p>
<div id="UWwKUe">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
2a) Again, re SALT cap repeal, if you told me I’d be siding with R’s against D’s on a tax change, I would have concluded you’d lost your mind.
</p>
— Jared Bernstein (<span class="citation" data-cites="econjared">@econjared</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/econjared/status/1205910679473053696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<h3 id="sSuqcC">
Why SALT isn’t settled: There are internal Democratic divisions over what to do
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TA2Ae3">
Many lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — have been mad about the SALT cap since before the ink on the 2017 law was even dry. Since-retired Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey voted against the legislation in 2017, when he was chair of the House Appropriations Committee. He <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rfrelinghuysen/posts/941856692635029">specifically cited the SALT limit</a> in his reasoning, warning that it would “hurt New Jersey families who already pay some of the highest income and property taxes in the nation.” The SALT cap may <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/us/politics/trump-tax-cut-republican.html">have hurt Republicans in the 2018 midterms</a>, as they wound up losing in some key impacted districts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YeFb4x">
In 2019, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/business/salt-tax-repeal.html">House of Representatives</a> voted to roll back the SALT cap, with many Democrats and some Republicans going along. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) voted against the bill at the time, but <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1207828412301271041?s=20">she left the door open to doing something to “restructure” SALT</a>. The bill failed in the Senate, which was then controlled by Republicans, but all Democratic senators voted for it except for one — Bennet from Colorado.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BMuYII">
Now, SALT is back up for discussion as part of the broader conversation around Biden’s plan for spending on infrastructure and jobs, which includes talk of potential changes to the tax code. Some Democrats are pushing for the restoration of the full deduction, or at the very least, some changes to the current cap, to be included as part of a broader upcoming package, even though those changes would mean a decrease in revenue at a moment when the White House is looking to raise it. How on board Biden is with that is unclear: <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-salt-tax-deduction-a8213dd1-7609-4fe8-bc5a-8ee0f9848187.html?stream=politics&amp;utm_source=alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=alerts_politics">Axios reports</a> the president isn’t planning to rejuvenate the SALT deduction, but there are some big names encouraging him to go along.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nw72xk">
Pelosi <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-01/pelosi-backs-move-to-lift-salt-cap-in-biden-s-economic-program">has described</a> the limit as “devastating” to California voters and said she shares the “exuberance” of lawmakers who are looking to do something about it. “Hopefully we can get it into the bill,” she said in April. “I never give up hope for something like that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2xP3i">
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is up for reelection in New York in 2022, has also urged Biden to bring back the SALT deduction in full and has tried to further his argument by noting how hard-hit his home state has been by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Double taxing hardworking homeowners is plainly unfair; we need to bring our federal dollars back home to … cushion the blow this virus — and this harmful SALT cap — has dealt so many homeowners and families locally,” he said in a <a href="https://www.schumer.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-and-gillibrand-launch-new-push-to-permanently-restore-new-york-states-full-salt-deduction-with-average-upstate-ny-deduction-of-13k-senators-introduces-legislation-to-allow-upstate-taxpayers-to-fully-deduct-state-and-local-taxes-on-federal-income-returns">statement</a> in January.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wu6VEo">
Some Democratic members of the House have gone as far as to declare, “No SALT, no deal,” in an effort to force the president’s hand on the issue.
</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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I’ve got a few words for anyone considering altering federal tax rates for families in North Jersey: <br/><br/>No SALT, No Dice // No SALT, No Deal! <br/><br/>See the statement below from my colleagues <a href="https://twitter.com/BillPascrell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="BillPascrell">@BillPascrell</span></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/RepTomSuozzi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RepTomSuozzi">@RepTomSuozzi</span></a>, &amp; me: <a href="https://t.co/DFd22JgDSt">pic.twitter.com/DFd22JgDSt</a>
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— Rep Josh Gottheimer (<span class="citation" data-cites="RepJoshG">@RepJoshG</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJoshG/status/1377016289194090499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a>
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“I’m going to talk to my colleagues on the Ways and Means staff and I’m going to talk to the White House and I am going to talk to my other colleagues that are in a similar predicament as my state is in,” Suozzi told Vox. “Right now, no SALT, no deal.”
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Proponents of restoring the SALT deduction make multiple arguments. One is that capping it will cause wealthy people to flee from high-tax states. There’s <a href="https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/media/_media/pdf/pathways/summer_2014/Pathways_Summer_2014_YoungVarner.pdf">not really a lot of evidence</a> for millionaire mass migration when their taxes go up. The SALT deduction is a relatively bigger hit, but <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/we-dont-know-if-salt-cap-driving-away-residents-high-tax-states">there’s not clear proof that rich people are fleeing high-tax states en masse</a> because of it — plus, people move for plenty of reasons. (See: the pandemic.) They also say that the SALT deduction lets state and local governments tax high-income people to pay for public services for low- and middle-income people. The reasoning goes that letting rich people deduct their state and local taxes means states can tax them more to pay for health care, education, public transit, etc., and that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-05/the-salt-deduction-isn-t-just-a-subsidy-to-high-tax-blue-states">it stops states from engaging in a race to the bottom</a> to cut taxes.
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“For my progressive friends, I want to say very clearly, don’t be bamboozled by the conservative movement. They’ve been planning this for 40 years to figure out how to undo the progressive policies in progressive states by getting rid of the state and local tax deduction,” Suozzi said.
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Richard Reeves, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and co-author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/New-Contract-Middle-Class-ebook/dp/B08J46GYFT"><em>A New Contract with the Middle Class</em></a>, said that to the extent the SALT deduction is an attempt to accomplish those goals, it’s doing so in a very roundabout way. “The idea that the best way to get states to spend more money, particularly on services that are actually progressive, is to give a massive tax break to the people who live there in the hopes that it will allow the states and cities to therefore tax them a bit more because they know they’ve got a break, and that that extra revenue will be used in a progressive way — that might be happening, but wow, that’s a pretty long way around,” he said.
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Democrats also make the point that the deduction limit wound up in the 2017 tax bill as a way for Trump to exact revenge on blue states that didn’t support him. “The notion that if Democrats had enacted a policy specifically targeted at Texas and Florida, the members from Texas and Florida wouldn’t try to reverse it … obviously [they would] if the shoe were on the other foot,” one Democratic aide said. “Republicans were so clear about what they were doing in 2017, they wanted to shift money from wealthier people in New Jersey and New York to wealthier people in Texas and Florida and other red states.”
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Reeves sees it a different way: “Good policy gets made for bad reasons.”
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This is really an issue of politics meets policy
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The fault lines around the SALT deduction aren’t really so ideological as they are geographic, which makes sense, given whose constituents are impacted by this and whose aren’t. It’s a non-issue for voters in many parts of the country, but places where it matters, it really matters: Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democrat now representing the district Frelinghuysen retired from, ran ads during the 2018 about the SALT deduction.
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The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents the left-leaning faction of the House, has declined to take a position on the matter — its membership is split. “There are some members that feel very strongly about it because they’re in a state where that’s a very big issue for their revenue,” Rep. <a href="https://thehill.com/people/pramila-jayapal">Pramila Jayapal</a> (D-WA), the CPC’s chair, told <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/545632-democrats-have-a-growing-salt-tax-problem">the Hill</a>.
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The politics of the SALT deduction are a bit messy, but the bigger issue is really the policy angle, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who advised Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. The Biden team wants to raise revenue to pay for infrastructure and other priorities, and lifting the SALT cap will do the opposite. <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/model-estimates/repeal-10000-state-and-local-tax-salt-deduction-limitation-sep-2018/repeal-10000">It would cost an estimated $600 billion through 2025</a>.
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“I don’t think it has much downside politically, it’s more of a dilemma for the economic team and the budget team,” Lake said. “Democrats right now are concentrating on who’s not paying their fair share as opposed to who’s paying their fair share.”
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The debate over what to do about the SALT deduction doesn’t have to be a binary one. <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/tpc-analyzes-five-ways-replace-salt-deduction-cap">There are other alternatives</a>, like reducing all itemized deductions or limiting the tax rate applying to itemized deductions. Or, the federal government could raise the SALT cap to $20,000 for couples to at least get rid of the marriage penalty currently in place, or raise the top individual income rate back to 39.6 percent, where it was pre-TJCA.
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“If you wanted to raise revenue from higher-income people, you could just raise the top rates. It’s pretty straightforward, and it doesn’t distinguish between different regions of the country,” Sammartino said.
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Reeves chafed at the idea of raising the top rate to counterbalance lifting the deduction cap. “Why would you take with one hand and give back with the other? Why not just take with one hand and make the tax code a bit simpler?” he said. He instead pointed to a <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/congress-can-help-state-and-local-governments-prepare-rainy-day-without-repealing-salt-cap">proposal from the Tax Policy Center</a> for the federal government to help create a kind of “rainy day fund” to help states.
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Lake said she believes it would be “fairly easy to obtain some kind of compromise.”
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Biden ran on his ability to bring Democrats and Republicans together. It’s become increasingly obvious Republicans aren’t coming along for the ride with him on much of anything, and even though some of them might want to restore the SALT deduction, it’s likely to be tucked into a broader package that the GOP isn’t going to go for. And so the challenge on state and local taxes, as with so many other issues, is for the White House and congressional leadership to keep Democrats together. The debate on this, and myriad other tax proposals, is just beginning.
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<li><strong>Scientists haven’t figured out long Covid. Here are 5 of their best hypotheses.</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OLq3qaYytGDRsrJL07I_D4cDoog=/238x0:1589x1013/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69123837/long_covid_board_1.0.jpg"/>
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Christina Animashaun/Vox
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From disturbing the gut microbiome to lingering in the brain, there are many ways the coronavirus might cause lasting symptoms.
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Most people who get the coronavirus will fully recover and go right back to their lives. But the latest research suggests that at least <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/theprevalenceoflongcovidsymptomsandcovid19complications">10 percent</a> have long-term symptoms, even after their body has apparently cleared the virus.
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The condition, known as “long Covid,” has emerged as a scary feature of the pandemic — a reminder that even as hospitalizations and deaths come down, millions of people will continue to suffer from the aftermath of infection.
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And, as it turns out, “this isn’t unique to Covid,” <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/akiko_iwasaki/">Akiko Iwasaki</a>, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine, told Vox.<strong> </strong>
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Instead, Covid-19 appears to be one of many infections, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/22298751/long-term-side-effects-covid-19-hauler-symptoms">Ebola to strep throat</a>, that can give rise to stubborn symptoms in an unlucky subset of patients. “It is more typical than not that a virus infection leads to long-lasting symptoms in some fraction of individuals,” Iwasaki said.
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The difference now is that, with 137 million Covid-19 cases worldwide and counting, long-haulers are more visible: Their suffering has come on in unprecedented numbers. It’s also possible the coronavirus causes <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(21)00084-5/fulltext">long-term symptoms even more frequently</a> than other infections.
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In this week’s episode of <a href="http://vox.com/unexplainable"><em>Unexplainable</em></a>, we dive into what we know about long Covid and what other viruses can teach us about the condition, including the leading hypotheses for what might be driving symptoms in Covid long-haulers.
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We also look at what we can learn from patients who have been grappling with medically unexplained symptoms — the kind that don’t correspond to problematic diagnostic test results or imaging — for years before the pandemic hit. Here’s a rundown of what scientists think could explain the mysterious symptoms, and why even the vaccine might not help.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The virus and “viral ghosts” didn’t actually leave the body
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<img alt="MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DD8RjDbpW5tYxIxEr3G2_rdRIBE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22440780/1231882875.jpg"/> <cite>Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images</cite>
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Cell nuclei (blue) being infected by SARS-CoV-2 (red areas), the virus that causes Covid-19.
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The first explanation for what might cause persistent symptoms in people who’ve been infected with Covid-19 is the simplest: The virus or its components might still be lurking in the body somewhere, long after a person starts testing negative.
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We’ve learned from other long-term viral illnesses that, in some cases, pathogens do not fully clear the body. “It’s out of the blood but gets into tissue in a low level — the gut, even maybe the brain in some people who are really sick — and you have a reservoir of the virus that remains,” PolyBio Research Foundation microbiologist <a href="https://polybio.org/team/amy-proal/">Amy Proal</a> told Vox. “And that drives a lot of inflammation and symptoms.”
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These viral reservoirs have been documented following infections with many other pathogens. During the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, studies emerged showing the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/health/weeks-after-his-recovery-ebola-lurked-in-a-doctors-eye.html">Ebola virus could linger in the eye</a> and <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2104238-ebola-virus-has-lurked-in-a-mans-semen-for-more-than-500-days/">semen</a>. There were similar findings during the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/2/23/11101500/zika-sexual-transmission">2015-2016 Zika epidemic</a> when health officials warned about the possibility that Zika could be sexually transmitted. (Viral reservoirs are also why the moniker “post-viral” can be problematic, Proal added.)
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A related explanation for what might be happening with long-Covid patients is what Iwasaki calls “viral ghosts.” While the intact virus may have left the body, “there may be RNA and protein from the virus that’s lingering and continuing to stimulate the immune system,” Iwasaki said. “It’s almost like having a chronic viral infection — it keeps stimulating the immune system because the virus or viral components are still there, and the body doesn’t know how to shut it off.”
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Recent studies in <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-021-03207-w&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Nature</em></a> and <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1474-4422(20)30308-2/fulltext"><em>The Lancet</em></a> documented coronavirus RNA and protein in a variety of body systems, including the gastrointestinal tract and brain.
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In autopsies of people with chronic fatigue syndrome, researchers also found <a href="https://me-pedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_in_Myalgic_Encephalomyelitis">enterovirus</a> RNA and proteins in patients’ brains, including, in one case, in the <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-120-11-199406010-00020?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&amp;rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&amp;rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&amp;">brain stem region</a>. The brain stem controls sleep cycles, autonomic function (the largely unconscious system driving bodily functions, such as digestion, blood pressure, and heart rate), and the flu-like symptoms we develop in response to inflammation and injury.
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“If that area of the brain signaling becomes dysregulated [by viruses],” Proal said, “[that] can result in sets of symptoms that meet a diagnostic criteria for [chronic fatigue syndrome], or even for long Covid.”
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Other pathogens lurking in the body reawaken
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Other pathogens already lurking in the body prior to a coronavirus infection might also exacerbate symptoms. For example, viruses in the herpes family — such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/epstein-barr/about-ebv.html">Epstein-Barr</a> (the cause of mono) or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varicella_zoster_virus">varicella zoster</a> (the cause of chickenpox and shingles) — stay dormant in the body forever. Under normal conditions, the immune system can keep them in check.
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“So, for example, 90 percent of people in the world already have herpes viruses,” said Proal. “But in those patients, the immune system keeps them in a place where they can’t replicate, where they can’t express proteins. They’re kind of controlled.”
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But then Covid-19 comes along, and all of a sudden these other viruses get a chance to gain a foothold again. With the immune system tied up fighting Covid-19, the other viruses may reawaken. And they — not the coronavirus — drive symptoms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The immune system turns on the body
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Another key hypothesis: Long-Covid patients have developed an <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-021-00149-1&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">autoimmune disorder</a>. The virus interrupts normal immune function, causing it to misfire, so that molecules that normally target foreign invaders — like viruses — turn on the body.
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These “rogue antibodies,” known as autoantibodies, “attack either elements of the body’s immune defences or specific proteins in organs such as the heart,” according to <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-021-00149-1&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Nature</em></a>. The assault is thought to be distinct from <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2026131">cytokine storm</a>, an acute immune system disorder that appeared as a potential threat early in the pandemic.
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“Under that scenario, we talk about <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.28.428642v1.full">molecular mimicry</a>,” Proal said. “Basically, the virus creates proteins that look like human proteins or tissue, and that kind of tricks the immune system.” Here, the the immune system tries to target the virus, which “if it has a similar size and shape to a human tissue or protein, it fires on the human tissue or protein as well,” she added.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The microbiome gets thrown out of whack
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It’s also possible the coronavirus might <a href="https://gut.bmj.com/content/70/4/698">deplete important microorganisms</a> in the gut microbiome — the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in and on the body.
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In <a href="https://gut.bmj.com/content/70/4/698">one study</a>, researchers tracked blood and stool samples from 100 patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection, testing some up to 30 days after they cleared the virus. (They also collected samples from a control group for comparison.) And they found Covid-19 infection was linked to a “dysbiotic gut microbiome,” even after the virus cleared the respiratory tract; they also hypothesized that it might contribute to the persistent health problems some patients are experiencing.
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“Under conditions of health, those communities are in a state of balance. It’s like a forest, like different organisms are doing different things, but it’s in a harmonious state,” Proal said. But Covid-19 could lead to an imbalance in the microbiome. “And a huge number of symptoms are tied to microbiome dysbiosis. Irritable bowel syndrome or even neuro-inflammatory symptoms can be driven by these ecosystems when they go out of balance, too.”
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The body is injured
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<img alt="Radiologists observe CT scans of covid-19 hospital in Cremona" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bKyauGZy3li3kF8GmZzm90TEJ9I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22440784/1289176732.jpg"/> <cite>Nicola Marfisi/AGF/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</cite>
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Radiologists observe CT scans of Covid-19 patients’ lungs.
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The virus might have cleared the body but left injuries in its wake — scars in the lungs or damage to the heart, for example — and these injuries might give rise to symptoms.
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According to a <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212555v1.full.pdf">recent preprint</a> involving 201 patients, 70 percent had impairments in one or more organs four months after their initial Covid-19 symptoms set in. In other <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-020-02598-6&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">unpublished research</a>, radiologists at the University of Southern California tracked hospitalized patients’ lung recovery using CT scans. They found one-third had scars caused by tissue death more than a month later. Other patients may have <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-020-02599-5&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">brain damage that causes neurological symptoms</a>.
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There’s also growing evidence of widespread cardiac injury, even in patients who aren’t hospitalized. In a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768916"><em>JAMA Cardiology</em> study</a>, researchers performed cardiac MRIs on 100 patients in Germany who had recovered from Covid-19 within the past two to three months. An astounding 78 percent still had heart abnormalities.
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For coronavirus patients who had to be admitted to intensive care units, there’s a related explanation: Long before the pandemic, the <a href="https://www.sccm.org/MyICUCare/THRIVE/Post-intensive-Care-Syndrome">intensive care community</a> coined a term for the persistent symptoms people frequently experience following stays in an ICU for any reason, from cancer to tuberculosis. These symptoms include muscle weakness, brain fog, sleep disturbances, and depression — the aftermath of a body lying around in a hospital bed for days on end and injuries or side effects from treatments patients received, including intubation.
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The term “post-intensive care syndrome” was<strong> </strong>“created to raise awareness and education, because so many of our ICU survivors were going to their primary care doctor saying they were fatigued,” said <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/dale-needham">Dale Needham</a>, who has been treating Covid-19 patients in the ICU at Johns Hopkins. “They had trouble remembering, and they were weak. Their primary care doctor would do some lab tests and say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing wrong with you.’ The patient might walk away and feel like the doctor was saying, ‘It’s all in your head. You’re making it up.’”
</p>
<h3 id="FVwqqT">
The Covid-inspired medical revolution
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="30PoLB">
So what might help alleviate the nagging symptoms of Covid long-haulers? One idea that’s been circulating is the Covid-19 vaccine: Some long-haulers are reporting <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/30/982805660/long-haulers-are-finding-relief-after-getting-their-covid-19-vaccine">their symptoms improving</a> after they’ve gotten immunized. But others have reported feeling worse — and still others, no different. So researchers are racing to understand the effects of vaccination on long Covid, but it isn’t looking like a silver bullet just yet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WKmrIR">
Proal had a simpler solution that could be implemented today: “It’s time for medicine to be rooted in just believing the patient.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2nGV2I">
Even with growing awareness about long Covid, patients with the condition — and other chronic “medically unexplained” symptoms — are still too often <a href="https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/10/09/minna-johansson-caring-for-patients-with-long-covid-a-compassionate-tightrope/">minimized and dismissed</a> by health professionals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ROfiBF">
People “want disease to kill you, or they want you to return to miraculous good health,” said <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fjaime-seltzer-b23abb14&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22369734%2Flong-hauler-covid-vaccine" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Jaime Seltzer</a>, director of scientific and medical outreach at the chronic fatigue syndrome advocacy group <a href="https://www.meaction.net/about/">ME Action</a>. “When you stay sick, compassion can fade. And that is not just friends and family. That is your clinicians as well; they want somebody fixable.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DDASHu">
But long-haulers of any chronic condition can exist in a space between sickness and health for years, sometimes without a diagnosis. Their unexplainable symptoms can elicit outright skepticism in health professionals who are trained to consider patient feedback the “lowest form of evidence on [the evidence hierarchy], even under research on mice,” Proal said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F42UHz">
The situation can be even more challenging for patients who never had a positive PCR test confirming their Covid-19 diagnosis. Of the dozens of medical appointments one Covid-19 long-hauler, Hannah Davis, had for her ongoing symptoms — which include memory loss, muscle and joint pain, and headaches a year after her initial disease — one of the best experiences involved a doctor who simply said, “I don’t know.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ZNwkl">
“The doctor [told me], ‘We are seeing hundreds of people like you with neurological symptoms. Unfortunately, we don’t know how to treat this yet. We don’t even understand what’s going on yet. But just know you’re not alone,’” she recounted. “And that’s the kind of conversation that needs to be happening. Because we can wait, but we can’t have the doctor’s anxiety being projected onto us as patients.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Babar dethrones Kohli from top of ICC men’s ODI rankings</strong> - India captain Virat Kohli’s long reign at the top of the ICC rankings for batsmen was on Wednesday brought to an end by his Pakistan counterpart Bab</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Serena Williams signs programming deal with Amazon Studios</strong> - Williams has not played since she lost in the Australian Open semifinals in February to Naomi Osaka.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Conn Findlay, 4-time Olympic medalist, dies at 90</strong> - Conn Findlay, a four-time Olympic medalist in the sports of rowing and sailing and a member of two winning America’s Cup crews, has died. He was 90.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2021 | It was an excellent fightback, won’t see a game like this: MI captain Rohit</strong> - KKR captain Eoin Morgan was unhappy that his team didn’t play “bold cricket” in the final 10 overs.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wakeful for feature event</strong> - Wakeful, who is in fine nick, may score in the first division of the Welcome Cup (1,200m), the main event of the opening day’s races to be held here</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Katti Padma Rao to receive Lok Nayak Foundation award on April 15</strong> - He is chosen for the award in recognition of his contribution towards the uplift of the oppressed sections, says Yarlagadda</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In a week, TN police book over 2.25 lakh people for not wearing masks</strong> - All wings of the police force are conducting awareness programmes and a drive against violators of COVID-19 norms</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gauhati High Court upholds bail order of Akhil Gogoi by special NIA court</strong> - Any act aimed at creating civil disturbance will not come within the purview of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 unless committed with the requisite intention, the Court said.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vardhan launches initiative to spread awareness about nutrition</strong> - Studies estimate that India produces as much as two times the amount of calories it consumes.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Waltair Division operates first mango special</strong> - The train carrying 200 tonnes of fruits from Vizianagaram to New Delhi</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia to consider Biden plan for Putin summit</strong> - The Kremlin said it was “early” to talk of a meeting, after the two presidents spoke on the phone.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Stolen Roman statue found in Brussels antique shop</strong> - The headless figure, estimated to be worth €100,000, disappeared from a site near Rome 10 years ago.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine paused over rare blood clots</strong> - Following rare blood clots, the US, South Africa and EU have suspended the jab.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cécile Djunga case: Belgian jailed for racism targeting TV presenter</strong> - One man gets two weeks in jail for targeting Cécile Djunga, whose revelations shocked Belgium.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rudolf Anschober: Austrian health minister resigns due to exhaustion</strong> - Rudolf Anschober said his 15 months as health minister during the pandemic “felt like 15 years”.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mazda’s electric MX-30 goes on sale in the US this fall</strong> - The battery EV MX-30 will be joined in time by a range-extended rotary hybrid. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756570">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ford’s hands-free answer to GM’s Super Cruise is called BlueCruise</strong> - F-150s and Mustang Mach-Es will receive an OTA update later this year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756634">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hawley’s antitrust bill focuses on market cap, ignoring consumers</strong> - “Size itself is not a sign of anticompetitiveness.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756886">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dell’s all-new Inspiron laptop lineup includes a new 16-inch model</strong> - New Inspiron lineup includes a 14 2-in-1, and 13-, 14-, 15-, and 16-inch laptops. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756856">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s Dave Bautista and pals vs. zombie horde in Army of the Dead</strong> - Zack Snyder returns to his <em>Dawn of the Dead</em> directorial roots. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756684">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>[NSFW] My girlfriends name is Wendy and I had it tattooed on my penis.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When it’s flaccid you can only see WY.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On a trip to the Caribbean I went to the bathroom and was standing at the trough next to a local.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I briefly gazed down and saw that he too had WY tattooed on his penis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I asked him if his girlfriends name was also Wendy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He said ‘No. When I am aroused it says “Welcome to Jamaica- Have a nice day” ‘.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AndrewMacSydney"> /u/AndrewMacSydney </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqme5r/nsfw_my_girlfriends_name_is_wendy_and_i_had_it/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqme5r/nsfw_my_girlfriends_name_is_wendy_and_i_had_it/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife just nudged me and said, “You weren’t even listening, were you?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I thought, that’s a strange way to start a conversation.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/4x4Xtrm"> /u/4x4Xtrm </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqhqcs/my_wife_just_nudged_me_and_said_you_werent_even/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqhqcs/my_wife_just_nudged_me_and_said_you_werent_even/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Three dinosaurs are running across the desert when they stumble across a magic lamp.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They rub it, and a genie appears.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I have three wishes, so I’ll give one to each of you,” the genie announces.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first dinosaur thinks hard.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Alright,” he says, “I’ll have a big, juicy, piece of meat.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Instantly, the biggest, juiciest piece of meat he’d ever seen appears in front of him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Not to be outdone, the second dinosaur thinks even harder.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I know! I’ll have a shower of meat!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Immediately, huge pieces of meat rain down around him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third dinosaur, certainly not to be outdone, thinks harder than the previous dinosaurs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I’ve got it!” he cries, “I want a MEATIER shower!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MudakMudakov"> /u/MudakMudakov </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqepmk/three_dinosaurs_are_running_across_the_desert/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqepmk/three_dinosaurs_are_running_across_the_desert/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A Man Accidentally Elbows a Woman’s Boob</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
as she is standing behind him in a hotel lobby. The man apologizes profusely and says “if your heart is as soft as your breasts, I know you’ll forgive me.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To which the woman replied “if your dick is as hard as your elbow, I’m in room 318.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JesusSaves002"> /u/JesusSaves002 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mq6sly/a_man_accidentally_elbows_a_womans_boob/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mq6sly/a_man_accidentally_elbows_a_womans_boob/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>“Zoom meetings” is a stupid name, and it’s branded. We should call it a bit more casual like “coworker video chat”…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Or something shorter, like “co-vid”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Sarke1"> /u/Sarke1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqkn7t/zoom_meetings_is_a_stupid_name_and_its_branded_we/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mqkn7t/zoom_meetings_is_a_stupid_name_and_its_branded_we/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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